please join Meed I United States of America and to the for stands Nation God indivisible andice thank you good evening welcome to the Westport Select board meeting Monday May 6 2024 under Mass General la chapter 38 section 20f this meeting is being recorded um just a couple of welcoming comments I want to remind everybody that town meeting is tomorrow at 700 p.m. at the new high school um a bunch of committees including our board um and the infrastructure oversight committee are posted for 6:30 at the um at the new high school so we hope to see everybody there um the warrant information with all the motions and full budget is available on the town website um I think that's it for welcome comments we do want to the board wants to acknowledge the passing of Wayne um Sunderland so Wayne Sunderland '87 of Westport passed away on April 26 he was the longtime companion of Nancy Cook he was a 1953 graduate of derky high school he attended Boston University and completed civil engineering studies he was employed by the mass Highway Department as a civil engineer for 39 years he served in US Army Reserve from 1955 to 63 um he was an elected member on Dartmouth for the Board of Public Works and the planning board um he resided in Westport from 1980 um here in Westport he was elected a member of the planning board and he served as westport's planning board commissioner to the serid um to serid and was awarded commissioner of the year in May 2007 I didn't know Wayne personally but I know when I first joined the board we could always find him sitting in these meetings at that seat with a big file folder and I I know what I know about Wayne is he really cared about serving his community and he really cared about serving Westport and I'm really fortunate that I had the chance to work with him do anybody have anything you want to say well just like to D he was our unofficial Keeper in the door too he help us with the sign in every every meeting he also took me under his wing to surfed when I first got on the board uh he was playing right before Jim so he did a lot for the town we appreciate yeah did I had privilege of meeting him and knowing him he used to go to the post office at Westport Point 11:15 every day at 7:00 by it and he was a good uh a good guy and a great friend we miss him I just remember that Wayne if he wasn't here physically he was here via local cable access and if he didn't like the way things were going at meetings and this happened on more than one occasion he would get up drive up to town hall and come in to speakers so our condolences with uh to his family he will be missed um I also just wanted to take a moment to tell to let everyone know that I am in the process of changing my last name back to the name that I was born with so going forward I'm going to be Shauna teas te a and I appreciate your patience while I try to get used to all that um are there any other announcements before we begin all right um so the first thing we have as a public hearing we have a request from zma Salem for a six-month seasonal trailer permit for recreational purposes the property is located at 58 East Beach Road assessor map 76a lot 68 is there anyone here for that request yes I you uh you you can come for us let Hi how are you can you st your name Nick Salem I'm uh Zas husband okay she should be here soon but that's okay um so um Paula is the paperwork in order so we have same trailer same setup same trailer setup okay so same setup just a different person okay all right anybody have any questions you're aware it's a financially sensitive area and the certain rules and what yesware that yes if there's no questions I'll move second we have a motion in a second this is a public hearing is there any um comments from the public anything from the word all right so um we have a motion a second to approve the um request all in favor I um that's unanimous thank you enjoy thank you so much we have another um hearing a request from Nick Salem for the transfer of the repair license from Westport Tire to Salem Enterprise Inc located at 718 State Road also you so is are is the paperwork in order yes the police report is favorable the police report is favorable um Jim do you have a recommendation I recommend approval all right um anybody have anything that want to I'll move them I know Michael keep an eye on okay second we have a motion a second is there any discussion from the board there any public comments anything you want to add okay all in favor I that's unanimous thank you so much the next item have is a request from Bay Breeze Inc doing business as Westport sea Farms to approve the application for change of manager from carry and Fen to Christen M FN and a request for an alteration of premises for the property at 2065 Main Road in Westport I believe we have some people here for that one pull another chair everybody so Jim do you want to just tell us what this is about they were in um GCS ago um here and wine mol uh wine with the license which they received the seasonal Lial license at the time they had submitted a plan showing the interior and exterior locations that they were um described as part of their license premises and um that area that was licensed has increased in size and they're here tonight to uh get approval from the board for that increase in size in area so the inside increased roughly from 594 Square ft up to 86 Square ft it might be slightly less than that I had a storage room as part of that um you can confirm that in the patio area was originally 871 sare ft which I think is a mistake because the Shaded area that they actually shown on that plan was much l larger than that um and then they're looking to go up to 2250 Square ft okay so I just want to make sure I understand C so one um topic before us is the change of the change of the license the change of the manager right and then the second is um so my understanding and please correct me if I'm wrong is it's the same footprint that we would have seen last summer when we were there it's just that prior there was interior seating and exterior seating and now you're Shifting the seating outside is that basically correct correct uh during covid the state allowed uh a shifting from indoor seating to outdoor seating without uh local board approval my clients were notified of this by the then uh secretary for the board of Selectmen they modified it the occupancy of the structure or occupancy of the premises has not changed since that time uh it is remaining at 72 any questions yes well from the board first and no is there anything from the board okay go ahead you can come to the microphone first of all your please um Brenda figero a butter 2056 first of all I have a question about the licensing according to what I have read this is a Tasting Room license uh um no can we confirm that I think it's not I think it's a wine and malt beverage it's a seasonal beer and wine no we're not we're talking about the facility we're not talking about the liquor license so with regards to the facility itself if I may Madam um the facility itself is allowed under westport's AGR tourism bylaws it's an extension of Westport seaf farms uh which has numerous tracks within the Westport where River and uh within the coastal areas of Westport off of Gooseberry Island these total are in excess of 5 Acres or more as such they qualify and have allowances under uh westports AGR tourism bylaw as an aquaculture Venture um the location uh where the boats have mored and where the purchasing point for the oysters is is at uh on Main Road at the location question we were granted an extension um in a finding after findings from the zoning board of appeals it would not be a material increase um for beer and wine to be served at the location material increase or change in use uh therefore it's it wasn't allowed activity it remained an allowed activity and is uh within the commercial Spirit of the of the Point area I do want to just um just clarify so the authority of this board would be the change of manager on the license and and the license itself right but the zoning question isn't before us it isn't properly for us to decide the zoning issue that would have to be referred to the zoning board which I highly recommend that you correct check in with the zoning board on that was there anyone on the board that had any questions for that before I go back to the audience go ahead okay so what I was told by a member of the select board was that the license that was given to the premise was a tasting license a Tasting Room license that's not this is not a restaurant it's a tasting room or it's not this these are huge questions first of all it's zoned residential so I just said we're not determining any making any Zon I understand that so consequently it is a zoned residential it is not zoned commercial so to operate a restaurant in a residential area you have to go before the zoning board but they have never been before the zoning board the license that was permitted was a Tasting Room in the state of Massachusetts the only thing that is a tasting room is a pouring license for a liquor and that is given to places that create the liquor so the winery has a pouring license and agricultural and the brewery has a license agricultural for pouring there is no such thing as an oyster tasting license one two so my so my understanding of the current licensing that they have that I'm looking in our memos for is that they have a seasonal common VC license serving of the was which I suggest I'm talking right now I'm trying to answer your question they um have a wine and malt the Cur light I don't see the Jim do you have an can you point me to the place where they the common V license covers the oysters they filed with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission and they've received approval it's it's a wi and Mal liquer license reg in the common with if I may uh Madam chair there's no such thing is a Tasting Room license yeah it doesn't say um Farms breweries and uh or farming uh establishments that Brew their own beer distill their own alcohol or make wine are allowed to have in Massachusetts what what are called pouring permits or pouring room permits as such they're allowed tasting rooms to serve the alcohol that they're creating if it's a Distillery they're allowed to have all alcohol if it's a brewery they're allowed to have beer if it's a winery they can have wine this is none of those this is a beer and wine seasonal license that was granted after the decision was made that it would not qualify as a an expansion of use based on the history and Commercial nature of the property um it's also my understanding that a commercial Venture um M figorito owns a commercial Venture on the same street um so I don't know what whether or not fishing boats we still determining that fishing boats and water dependent uses are commercial but it is commercial and they do pre-exist so I just I just want to confirm so there before I talk I I promise I will get back to you um they it it doesn't say anywhere on here it's tasting license it's a it's a wi M license is there anyone on the board who has anything before I questions or clarifications on that no J so then before the board tonight for change of manager and expansion of the premises um the zoning issue even if it was granted tonight would still be out there if there is a z issue I would uh like to add that in 2018 uh we did a uh request for determination where Ralph um with the documentation that we submitted um Ralph had a uh he did not have how did he word it um we conformed with what we listed we conformed with the non-conforming use of the building um all the activities that we are currently doing and have for the past this will be our sixth year sixth sixth year are the same and the current footprint um and table layout has been the same for the past four years uh in 2020 we were granted the use of the patio during co uh the license was issued in the our first beer and wine or wine and malt um C seasonal liquor license was in October 2018 thank you Mr okay so first of all there again this property is zoned residential it is not zoned commercial for any purpose so a 75 seat restaurant should absolutely be go before the zoning board there's no parking there's no water I've heard several of us tell them they need to go to the zom board yes but you know this has been as they said 2018 now the building was sold by the gford in 2007 and it was it was converted into a residential property it was not purchased by the new owners until 215 which means it is not grandfather so how it got all of these things is beyond me and yes it should go to the zoning board and that would that's the appropriate thing to happen but it has hasn't happened in the past five or six years it's been allowed to to not just exist but now they're asking to enlarge the business at a time right now where the abutters have no use of the parking lot in the summertime people are parked in their driveways blocking their driveways they're parked on the wrong side of the street they're parked in the middle of the parking lot so the fire trucks can't get around which is a safe issue all of this is going on for a building that isn't even permitted to run a to run a business and 75 seats and we're talking about 75 seats I don't know how this happened but somewhere along the line the ball got seriously dropped last year the zoning board went down there and they serve them with a cease and deist they were allow to run pleas please do not interrupt her let her talk go ahead and they ran for another month is there is there an action that you would like this board to take I I think the whole thing should be tabled in Revisited thank you for your comments do you want to address just briefly um the history of the building was addressed extensively with Mr Susan a an opinion was requested and granted by Town Council subsequent to that we properly applied for all permits for a a parcel to house 72 occupants we supplied and provided the town with adequate a parking plan which me the adequate needs for the facility based on 72 guests the at at the time prior to co it was divided the occupancy of the building was divided between the interior and the exterior having 36 seats in the interior 36 seats on the exterior when Co hit the town said hey you can't have any more indoor dining we're going to stop that so for the summer months we're going to we're going to do what the state is allowing us to do please we're giving you notice my clients didn't approach the the town the town approached my clients and said this is what you can do the outdoor seating we're going to temporarily put that at 72 people so it's been operated successfully for the past 4 years and can operate I believe until the end of 2024 um as such the state also has I I believe um notes may have been given to you the state has also passed the opportunity for the state to make such permanent um without additional requirements the facility though the parking the everything has Chang has remained the same the only increase okay has been outdoor use there's no longer any indoor service being requested at this location thank you Mr Le hi excuse me Albert Le um just a a corrective for the minutes um Brenda was incorrect or the previous speaker was incorrect um the current owners did not buy the property from Bob gford and Cheryl give her they bought her for me so I I believe unless I heard wrong I just wanted to correct that secondly this has been going on for a number of years and I believe that this is this has been rehashed and rehashed and and resettled for a for a long time both at the zoning board of appeals in front of this uh this board and um you know I think it's time to move on I mean they've run a successful business with no complaints that I know of as far as uh any alcohol related in the also the other incorrect thing is that when I bought the warf from Bob giord there was commercial activity I was renting dock space we had an oyster Farm we had upw wellers these are all commercial activities there has been an no break no break which I believe and I could be wrong the zoning allows for a 2-year break before it it goes away there has been no break so this fallacy is is just that it's it's a myth lastly as far as the parking people like the previous speaker are trying to pin the tail on one donkey there's a lot of donkeys down on there there's a marina there's an illegal Marina there is a excuse me there is a a bed and breakfast there are a lot of activities down there there are Wednesday nights blue grass that place is mobbed nobody complains about that without a permit by the way I may add so I don't want to go on and on and on it just irritates me to see these two kids that are trying to make a living for themselves and their family to get beat up year after year after year by two or three people that that have it in for them and I'll leave it at that thank you before Mr speak is there anybody else who would like to speak on this topic first of all nobody has it in for anybody that is not why I'm here secondly the building was sold in 2007 you're correct by Bob gford to Al who then went before the state of Massachusetts and got a permit for a tight tank for a one-bedroom residence and that's what it's zoned as a one bedroom resident now operating upw wellers having an oyster Farm that's fine that's not an issue either but having a 20 a 75 seat restaurant with no parking no septic system and no public water source which is a requirement normally normally it's a requirement these things have to be they have to be litigated and discussed and all this time it's never been discussed even when there was inside seating he said it was for 35 well in Massachusetts inside seating for 25 is permitted without a public water source after 25 seats you have to have a public water source That's the Law so that right there would have been illegal but now they're moving it all outside so now you have 75 seats with an ouse and no public water source and no parking and I'm sorry that it's hashed and rehashed and rehashed but so many times people have pointed out these issues and nothing's been done about it it's been overlooked and I appreciate that the oyster business is a lovely business and I don't have any problem with that but I do think that since other businesses in the town of Westport are required to go through these hoops to have parking to have public water sources to have septic this this business ought to as well there's no Special Rule for some people who are trying hard to make a living for their family thank you so my understanding is that we so one we have a change of manager but two we have an alteration of the premises that the the total premises has been approved for a number of years now for 72 uh diners correct and it was but the current permit says 36 inside 36 outside the applicants are talking about just the same number of people that have been approved all these years only just outside you're not changing the layout that we would have seen last year you're not changing the layout isn't happening is strictly moved from inside outside correct I do want to underscore that this board can't make the zoning determination so we highly highly recommend that you go you talk to zoning there's been another similar establishment that um had a what was it what do they have a similar establishment recently went before the zoning board and got the confirmation of the non-conforming use and I think the thought was probably appropriate here from the me MERS of the board so what's the pleasure of the board Madam chair yes I like to ask a question haret Jim uh does the building inspector or zoning enforcement officer need to look at this because of this change yeah I'm not asking you Mr oh I'm S I was talking to the board I'm sorry good question so so they expanded the interior I believe I'm assuming it's been inspected by the building inspector but I'm not 100% sure I did check with him on the zoning issues and um he was under the impression that they would probably have to go to the zoning board he did not make a final determination um for an expansion of of the use but he did not make that final determination I uh do he is he does he need to weigh in on this that's all I'm asking me I I don't think it's a big issue personally I think he will at some point in regardless of what this board does the zoning is separate so I mean this board could Grant it and the building inspector could say it does or doesn't conform and if it doesn't they'd have to um Rectify that situation so for our decision here we don't need his review you don't need his approval we we usually get his opinion same thing we did the Board of Health the Board of Health was okay with the change they said there was no change in the number of occupants or seating so they did not have uh any issue with it um I did not get anything in writing from the building inspector okay thank you uh yes uh we have been in touch with the building department and Ralph Souza um he was actually in touch with us last fall and then we were also in touch with him recently about this change um he was reaching out and he said he would reach out if um he needed to take action uh that was over three weeks ago I believe Jim three or four weeks ago um and he has not um we we have answered all of his questions every time everything is is a rose um we have approached the zoning board like I said previously um I understand a Butters that have applied for liquor licenses and gotten denied in the past or upset um I don't control those situations um just trying to keep the business moving and stay the same so what's the pleasure of the board I I got one question so um Jim the the the Ralph the zoning enforcement office officer I mean on this approval I mean they must they must have an existing parking plan right correct the everything was approved um way back six years ago um so there is onsite parking and there's parking as allowed under the Westport bylaws adequate parking within uh 500 ft public parking of of the uh proposed or the current use so that's that's not changed at all um and there hasn't been uh an expansion um there's actually been a reduction the area that's being utilized in the interior does not um does not benefit or impact the residential use again the first floor remained commercial throughout uh Mr Lee's tenure so that that was never an issue I would like to add we've actually uh working with Jim um when they were redoing the point Terminus uh it was determined by himself and Chris Leonard um that the area that we rent next to our boat slips uh on Town dock were allowed for our employees um that's up to six additional parking spaces um currently we have three boats on the town dock um so if anything we actually have more parking uh than previously thank you can you identify yourself sure Brian Wagner owner uh weather low Farms um first off I love these guys and I think they're great um and I think the the thoughtful uh application of Agri tourism as it relates to licensing on the beer and wine side is interesting um and so my question is for the board um how how exactly does the licensing on that front relate to Agri tourism so so that would be a zoning issue right the Agro tourism is zoning um it's not not before the board tonight this is just an alteration of premises and a change of manager for the Lial license so Agri tourism is solely a zoning issue it's a zoning issue yes it's permitted under the zoning bylaws if they meet certain criteria sure and I understand I think what those are that's not who licenses liquor licenses that is not only decision that is a decision that is solely made by the people in this room that's correct and so my question is how do those two interact and when is Agri tourism if it's allowed by zoning then also allowed to have a liquor license I mean their council is the one who suggested that I okay um this this is not a this is a beer and wine multi beverages wine license um under under law there was actually a case that went to the appeals court um in which Westport the town of Westport was a defendant um regarding the what what qualified as an expanded use now historically this this uh building under the gence and under prior ownership served both prepared and fresh seafood they also were licensed and allowed to sell beverages Waters sodas other things um Westport lost a case many many years ago with regards to a property on Sanford road which had applied for beer and wine uh the the ability to sell retail uh beer and wine the courts determined that it was not at expanded use that this that it was simply the addition of beverages although the addition of other alcoholic uh say hard alcohols would constitute or could constitute an expanded use of the premises in this case um my clients could for for they had the establishment had been selling uh Seafood had been selling beverages had been doing a whole bunch of things over the years at one point um under the Le family they sold and it was a gas station they sold gas there was a whole bunch of things um so in this case it wasn't determined to be an expanded use or a uh increased use of the premises to be granted a beer and wine license there is precedent uh both in within the state and uh local local cases that Westport has uh had been the defendant in so we did adequately apply provided the uh correct paperwork and information to the board at that time and it's been operating flawlessly without any incidents um for six years so by that line of reasonings if someone had a common Vic license and was operating and under again that line of reasoning was just added alcohol to their list of already solds it would be an accepted reason to be granted address a hyal issue right the issue before us specific the issue that's before us right now is whether to allow the change of manager from car and to Kristen fennelly and whether to approve the alteration of premises as destructive that's with for us right now what would be the appropriate venue to address that question I sound like the zoning we just determined it's not a zoning question would be a I don't know if we deter that it's not a zoning issue if there's an issue can be brought for us we'll have Council weigh in and we'll address we'll address the next issue so what would the appropriate form for that be well the I'm not sure what all happens before the alcoholic beverage license comes to us but when the point where it comes to us then it would come to us but I think it goes abcc for does you could certainly check back with me in the next next week or so and I can look that information for you all right appreciate it what the pleasure of board I move approval of the change in management as well as the U the the layup for the plan allocation alteration of premises have a second a do you have a motion in a second to approve the change of management and request alteration of prises is there any more discussion all in favor I I opposed so I heard I is that unanimous yeah okay I didn't hear everybody just unanimous congratulations do go to zoning we did not make a decision on the zoning thank you the next um item on the agenda is a request from Manuel sores president of Granite City crushing ink for repair license at 800c American Legion Highway Jim you want to tell us about this one yeah so this is a like stated it's a repair license uh we do have the paperwork is in order we have the police report they do not have an issue with it they have a favorable police report I would recommend approval is there any repair license you have to go to the I sorry Don Davidson what is a repair license repair automobiles okay TRS so and we have all the paperwork in order including air able police report that's correct yes so anybody have any questions or comments about this move approval we have a motion of a second to approve um any discussion any from the public I couldn't find the file is there currently a license there there is not there is not no this is a no right make sure they they have the adequate um I used to always add this cave up to an license make sure that they have the right um hasmat materials that case was fill okay any discussion we had a motion right yeah I second are all in favor I I'll abstain this happens to be me yeah uh so we have four in favor one exstension good luck um now we're on to 2A 2A is continued from um April 22nd a request from yellow fin events LLC to hold bikes and beers cycling event the partners with Buzzards Bay Brewing and benefits the Buzzards Bay Coalition and the South Coast Bikeway Alliance on Saturday May 18 from 88: to 12:30 is there anyone here from that event so we continue this event I'm sorry I'm sorry I thought Gail was going to make it so we continue this before um the conditions of the East Beach Road were um in question at the time so we were we were concerned about approving this um when we wer uncertain of the Road status so I believe that they've changed the route does that they have changed the route and the police department has give a favorable recommendation on the change room okay I'll move it with the recommendations second is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous um two oh we don't have didn't we have two that had the weird Road did the other one not the other one was the approv the okay all right thank you now we have a joint meeting with the board of assessors the board of assessors want to come up we have a joint meeting with the board of assessors to consider the appointment of Pauline Sylvia Maderos to fill the unexpired board of assessor term and Ste chairman of the board of assesses we had a board member uh Sor identif this is um Pauline M I feel we call Twiggy and you are Su mc mc of the board and um do you guys need to call your meeting to order or do you already have a meeting no we have a meeting going okay um we had a u a board member resigned about a month and a half ago and the position came open and Paul applied for it and I believe it was the only one people beating on the door so this would be to fill the unexpired term um until the next election in April right anything you want to comment I um have always been interested in the process because when I started going out with Steve he was an assessor and I'd go with him and I found it very educational and interesting so when the position came up and he was mentioning that you know Peter want to stay on I had made quite a few calls trying to get people to reply and I could get anybody interested unfortunately and I said GE I feel bad you know that you couldn't get anybody I said you know if it wasn't a conflict of interest i' want to do it and he asked Theo I believe uh and she said have me to have me call the Border in Boston and I did and spoke with a lawyer and they said it was not a conflict of interest as long as I filled out of form my notice of intent and um my background and I do she's done circal inspections with me when you know I work from out of place part time in Berkeley now so so you're aware the of the job we had a one of the previous members was concerned about the rigors of the testing required I think was the you're aware of that I'm aware of it okay he's made me well away it was the pleasure Jim no issues correct no issues that I'm aware of all right that I'll move on second and so how's this work CU they it's joint we have to vote and also the sess vote right or everybody votes majority the majority of the combined boards okay okay all right so we have a motion and a second all in favor I I is that unanimous all right congratulations wel board thank you thank you good luck um 3B on the agenda request from Michael burus the town planner um to appoint Mary sir ail Andre Emily Dutra Elizabeth white and Ann cloer as temporary Grant funded community leaz on positions as part of the municipal vulnerability preparedness 2.0 grp welcome Mr buris do you want to explain this one to us yeah this grant is a grant that we were awarded um probably about 4 months ago we received $45,000 in funds for doing community engagement building social resilience in Westport and then there's another 50,000 that's at the end of this grant program that is for implementing a a seed Grant um or seed project for climate resilience related activity um and so the community Liaisons in this process are to be compensated per the terms of the the grant agreement um and so these folks will be participating for up to hours um over the next year maybe a little bit over a year thank you question sounds good second we have a motion and a second to approve um as described if there any discussion just that it is Grant funded it's not tax M it it's not a conflict of interest it's just a disclosure that Emily is my cousin okay in case there's a question to that effect okay any other right all in favor I that's unanimous thank you didn't have anything else on no that's it okay thank you 3C we have a request from Thomas Ain to appoint school committee members to the following committee so this would have been they reorg their board just like we recently reorg ours and these are appointments from the from that committee so we have Melissa Pacho the capital Improvement planning committee Jason pachico cable Advisory Board Evan gendro and Gloria cabal to the school building committee Evan gendro long-term building committee Gloria cabal and Melissa Pico the Ada transition team Evan dendro to the audit committee Gloria cabal and Christopher Thrasher to the educational funds committee I'll move second do have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor I I that's unanimous um we have a request from the affordable housing trust fund to appoint Patrick long and and boxler to the committee speaking as the chair of the affordable housing trust fund um Patrick was recommend uh we have had a uh commercial lender from Bay Coast Bank sitting um on the board now since its Inception and we did ask the uh CEO of bay Coast uh Bank uh to um nominate someone to place uh and Betty and had already made that request to him directly uh the suggestion came back as um Patrick long who works on the insurance division uh of of the bank um and uh we voted to accept that nomination at our last meeting uh at the last meeting uh it was also um and box was the last meeting or was she had her term here it expired and she chose not for Run free election but she was still a member of of the affordable housing trust and so um she indicated interest in continuing on the trust and um I'm suggesting that we uh basically have her fill the position that I had which was the the select board appointed position now that I'm the select board representative to the vable Housing Trust with those if you approve these two tonight there will be no vacancies on affordab oning cust because furthering the agenda you'll see that there are two vacancies under on the agenda it's noted as having two vacancies but at the current time if we do that but so I'll make that in a form of a motion second there a motion second to um appoint Patrick long and and boxler to affordable housing trust is there any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous we have a request from dick Brewer to be reappointed to the audit committee as the select board represent don't move keep that moving before he changes his mind no he's going to arm wrestle for it he wants it are all in favor I thank you dick for serving on that very important committee I all abstained that we have four four and one AB um we have a request from the cemetery Department to hire Cameron toddman Holly as a seasonal employee effective May 13 2024 Jim yeah this is a recommendation from Foreman Steven Souza um to hire Cameron as a seasonal employee at the cemetery this would be the second and last seasonal employee of the season so he does have experience in this and um they can use the help so I would recommend approval second any discussion all in favor I that's unanimous we have a request to appoint a select board member to the American Disabilities Act transition plan committee and the long-term building committee anybody want to volunteer I will volunteer for the Ada transition planning meeting I'll volunteer for the um longterm longm okay so do we need you want to know because you're already on it right and this is an spot these were the two the an we had two before okay okay so I will entertain a motion to appoint shaa to the 88 transition plan committee and Craig to the long-term billing committee is that a motion no I'm somebody has to Second any discussion all in favor I I that's un thank you um action 4A we have a request from Beverly Bish to increase the hourly wage for the part-time position of the supportive Day program assistant director from $16.83 to 1750 per hour this has been reviewed by the Personnel Board is there anyone here to talk about this no Jim you want to tell us about this now this is this is a um parttime position um it's funded through a grant they had a difficult time filling it um they've recommended an increase they've gone they started here they went to the Personnel Board and now they're back Personnel Board did recommend I reviewed it and it's in favor of the increase I'd recommend approval it's a relatively small increase I just want to point out that I did check with um Jim we've sometimes had um some problems before we have we we raise the uh salary of a nonunion position and then the union has they say they have comparable positions and then they want a corresponding rate we don't believe there are other comparable positions to the support of Day program assistant director position second so have a motion a second is there any discussion all in favor that unanimous it's unanimous um B we approve want a request to approve a letter notifying the city of th River of the proposed water main extension the current water agreement requires notification of any expansion Jim you want to talk us with us so there's a copy of the letter in the file um we have an agreement with an interm missible agreement with the city of Fall River for water for public water along Route Six we recently received a grant for $4 million to extend the water line along Route 6 from the current housing um property one 6 just east of Davis Road to almost up to Washington Street um it also will cover a loop from Route Six down gford road to the back school back down Osborne Street it's a relatively um small increase in the volume but we still um according to the agreement we have to notify the city of the increase um we've been in contact with them verbally this just kind of formalizes the process and this grant itself is um we be installing the water mains people are not required to tie in there is no betterment cost for the property owners um it's covered by the Grant and there's no increased taxation no increase in taxation so think General I hope this is a good thing and uh we have a number of Wells that I shouldn't say number we have a few Wells that we know are high in past in nanes and this would address those um there may be some other private wells in that area um that have or have not been tested but um the as well as the EPA were very excited about this Grant and I don't see an issue with fall R but we do need to notify so the the action before us right now is just um to approve the letter to be sent that's in the p is there any discussion spoke first he beat me I don't know PA we're confusing her by having multiple different people's seconds do on our toes today you guys normaliz that all right all in favor I that's um C we have a request from the library trustees to increase the salary being offered for the director I would do believe we have can you please introduce yourselves Don Davidson chair of the library trustees Laura Bennett Vice chair and chair of the search committee okay Holly Dy trustee Susan sha trustee do you got all that all right can you tell us about this request um I like to a little bit of History first on March 1st we posted the job with the mass Board of Library Commissioners another called Library job online Southern Connecticut University and indeed indeed we had 24 possibilities but none were qualified there's we have some limitations on indeed what we can ask I believe so we had a lot of people look at it and then they didn't like the salary um the mass Library Commissioners require that each municipality and its Library must be certified to get Municipal appropriation requirements the minimum standards of the Free Library they have have to have a master's degree in library science um what else I got we had four people with the required master's degree did apply and were interviewed three of the four withdrew their applications following the interviewing stated that the salary offered was not sufficient for them to change jobs or to relocate um we had two additional applications come in one is from an out of state Library director another is from wants to move back in to New England um I'll read something from the library search committee the search process has been has been and and continues to be a painstaking task the trustees appointed a search committee cons consisted of three trustees two Library two volunteers and from the friends of Westport Library many hours have been spent in meetings reviewing applications interviewing checking references and many emails and phone calls have been done the entire board continues to appraise the process and has met one applicant for a second interview and will be meeting for another second this week uh Wednesday uh Laura spoke with the mass Library Commissioners um they've also heard that other people are having troubles because of budgets and low salaries uh during the following the pandemic there was a 20 to 30% turnover of Library directors most of whom retired when those positions were filled other positions open and job openings are only now beginning to get back to normal but it is tougher than it used to be especially in Westport which is a very attractive town to live in which is a selling point but the cost of living especially housing May discourage discourage out of state people um there have been recent Library directors openings in Southeastern Mass pimbrook had a range of 80 to 90,000 Titan had a problem looking for a director mat poon seems to have found one for 880,000 Westport is currently offering 74 667 the additional duties placed upon our assistant director she has had to alter her courses she was going for continued education to her credit she has done a good job trying to fill the fill the boat and I do have some salaries for small towns like ours around um population wise Easton is 85,000 Fair Haven is 81,000 Foxboro is 118,000 Mansfield 97 mapo at 75 Middleboro 101 Norton 97 pen 83 Somerset 73 on 84 weham 99 and Westbard at 74 and I did talk to Jim about um we talked about he said that the library salary is low we're in the 50 percentile for the report and that has a range of 88 to 102 that's in a job salary guys that you were working on and I he also asked me if there's any money in our budget to help help with that CU we did use some of the state funds for some of the part-time salaries but there are no more funds available from the state that we can use to help help fill this position so we're asking if the range could be where was my [Applause] range the email says 795 to 82 okay that's it yes that's what we're asking if they can find any money in free cash or anywhere to help us we feel it might help us get a director in place um we do not want to lose get get decertified and lose the almost $440,000 we get from the statement every year and if we're decertified the residents of Westport cannot use the facilities of another Library you can go and read but you cannot check out any items through into Library loan or in person or the sales on oh yeah yeah and the Museum passes and everything else they have to offer so um Jim I don't know if you've seen this not but Jim can you talk about this sheet that you passed us so this is just uh from the survey that was done but through the wage study um it's still preliminary but um it lists salaries for maybe 15 communities um and they range from anywhere from GE a low of 526 and Somerset and this is the range right so Somerset has a range of 52 up to 116 um but generally I think you know we are at the low end like a lot of our a lot of our positions here in town um starting to catch up with us but uh we're at 74670 or 667 right now and that's for FY 25 um you know the range is probably higher than that you know for anybody in this are probably 80 to 85 maybe 80 to 90 I I think one of the problems Jo you have is when you have a library director that's been there forever like Su Branco was you get the little increases every year when it comes to hiring somebody new they don't want that you they're looking for a higher range and to have a masters of science Library science is expensive to get so I think you know those type of qualifications needed for the job I think it it warrants a little bit higher salary so Jim the um the budget in town meeting tomorrow um I believe the budgeted line item for this for Town tomorrow's town meeting for starting in July would be is 7697 right so um and you're saying you don't have money in the budget to cover an increase so you're asking us to approve an increase but we don't know where the budget comes from okay anybody have any question take it under consideration well for me it's inter because we're in the middle of bargaining with Public Safety that we're literally losing because of the same thing uh we can't pay enough we losing the Young other people it kind of uses as a second as a stepping stone we're training them and they're taking off exactly so it's a tough decision for us especially if we're in the middle of negotiation saying we don't have anything to be honest with you um so I don't know where we can get and our other Library director was here for like 3 years he was a good fit everything worked well but he had another child insurance was more expensive and salary was less he he left mainly for money and insurance it's a problem with all the positions in Westport really there's hardly any that were paying market rate or that we're paying what they deserve to be paid um but it also you know we don't have money um Susan brano was the library director and she had AC cruded seniority and other things which increased her salary but when we hired her replacement he sort of went to the base without those added so that made the salary lower than it had been I'm not sure what the difference was it might have been around4 or $5,000 is that what the range was what's that you know what the range was for for the library director it was the same it was the same pay but she did have some incentives educational incentives and Longevity which boost it up a bit do you have a recommendation here I I don't know if they're going to fill a position at the current rate um what we have done or what's been done with some of the other departments is they G out they've gotten a candidate they found a candidate that they like and then uh they've negotiated the salary and at that point came back before the board to see if the board would approve that specific salary for the person coming in and we would do that we've done that through employment agreements I think it we might started at in the beginning but some of the people already don't want to come back because of the salary and I'd have a hard time tell them to come back we might be able to get you something more well you might be in a better position if at the town meeting tomorrow you asked for an increase in the budgeted amount for your department to cover that then you'd at least have I mean if you're if you're if you're asking for I don't know 10 10 grand more is going to be a lot but if you're asking for another 5 or 6,000 you might be able to ask at town meeting to increase your budget okay um for 25 um and then um that would make I know it would make it easier for me to approve it if you had a budget amount and I believe we might have that much in taxation um to cover it so I'm only one person but that was my recommendation is go to town meeting and get your budget increased and it make but that would be for 25 that would be for 25 so you'd have to look at how much you've saved in salary by not having someone whether you can cover that in 24 because it's already May and um so I think you need to look at whether you'd have that if you've had room in your budget to cover you mean carry over well so you have a I'm sorry so if you hired somebody this fiscal year and by the time you got some by the time you get somebody on board it's going to be June the earliest it's only going to be a month your current director has not been there for at least a month so there is some additional salary in there that would get you through this year and if you did a um increase for the following year um even if you brought somebody in in June you would have enough to cover it and no as of July that there'd be enough in there for the remaining year that would be if it gets approved that tell me yeah that was just my suggestion so we would do that by putting a hold on the library budget you put a hold on the library budget you would ask for an amendment to the number and you use the source as taxation so but that being said I'm just one person the board can decide to do something different I agree we're in the negotiat it makes us tough Craig did you just as you you when they're going over the you put the hold on in the beginning and then when it comes back to the individual holds that's when you get the motion that you think will make sense given what you may save this year and what is going to be the base salary for next year okay we can do that we can do that yeah our other concern is can our assistant hang in there for a while she's really under the gun she there was a tempor do we temporarily increase the pay at least for that yes I we did yeah we did I don't think the money is what she wants though it's a lot of pressure on her she wants to work with the kids yeah and her summer reading program is coming up and she loves to get back to it can we survive until something if we have to and we have an excellent staff at the library it's it's a the library is is a huge benefit to the town I I I don't go to the library very often but I sure do use the audible and ebooks all the time and that's just a tremendous cost saing we have a lot more kids from school come over than I thought we would have had we have more of this year from the Middle High School that we used to have from the Middle School nice so um is there any so that's our that's the recommendation anybody else has comment it makes sense people give more money to do it and then I think that would make it easier for us to approve that okay all right anything else I you guys want to talk about anything going on at the library that the town should know about um you like a book fair going on donations September is the book fair they're accepting donations that's of May one right yeah the paperbacks go first and the hard cover no paperback book sale this year but there will be the big book sale in September if paperbacks don't sell and CDs and don't sell either would not accept to those anymore all right thank you thank you July 4th parade committee so we have a request from from the 4th of July Fair committee to hold the parade on Thursday July 4 2024 at 10 a.m. welcome can you introduce yourself I'm Caitlyn Fay I'm Becky Anderson and you're requesting library is any I mean Library requesting the prade for July 4th are there any changes this year are you proposing anything it's going to be sunny change don't make it above 80 please yes sunny and 76 yes no rain no clouds it'll be a perfect day so is there any changes from previous years everything exactly same Jim do we have any don't think we have any of here on file it's just consistent with previous years I don't have any opposition I recommend approval all right how about the police funding sometimes that that's the only thing they the last couple of years we have funded the police so our ask would be if you guys could continue with that the money last year um they made an effort to pull available where it came out like4 or $500 less than what it usually does so I'm hoping um let's see Kudo has retired but we're going to be working with Sergeant mow and um hoping that we could make that happen again do we have to make the mo most of sub do we we think it'll be all right if we we we'll make it work all right I'll move it so you're moving the parade as yeah thank you for bringing for I just really do we have a second second so um I just really appreciate the work that you guys are doing I I know I firmly believe the town should be playing paying for the police details um because it's a Town Event people people think it's a Town Event so what should people know about the parade if they want to participate um no pre- sign up you just show up the morning of uh 8:00 a.m. start lining up at Perry's bakery across from Perry's Bakery uh we'll have plenty of people there we'll sign you up when you get there what else um roads close at 9: no exceptions Walkers if you are a walker you have to get on a float car something at Charlotte white we will not allow Walkers after Charlotte White Road we end up the high school um monitor our Facebook page page for any changes if we do have changes um we're looking for anybody wants to volunteer time if anybody wants to make a donation we're very gracious that you guys will help with our police detail but there's still yeah there's other costs there's other costs that we do occur okay um so that's just okay so we have we have a motion second to approve the July 4 break any further discuss just say the day and time July 4 10 a.m. this the address for donations 296 Indian Town Road Westport that's new this year Dave's done done he said retired this we might see him driving in the parade and is that payable to Westport par W uh Westport parade Westport 4th of July parade committee yeah WPF we'll put it on our social we'll put it on our social media but we wanted to wait to get a permission before we ask for donations yes okay all right all in favor I that's unanimous thank you and we'll see all there save you spot good weather not pouring down rain this year we had really good turnout with the rain last year did bye thank you 4 e request to use up to $45,000 of local American Rescue plan act funds for East Beach Road emergency repairs Jim yeah Chris gonzal at the highway department has been getting prices to do the emergency repairs on the road um he had looked at doing it as part of the chapter 90 contract by the time that goes out to bid and construction starts wouldn't be until July or maybe August and uh does get quite a bit of traffic in the summer season starting relatively soon so he's looking to use um Opa funds to get those repairs done as soon as possible okay thank you please motion yep so move second any discussion all in favor I that's this all right so I have put an action item here um review the warrant articles for town meeting with recommended actions um my thought here is that I believe I it's my opinion that the select board should have an opinion on um the articles but we're not required to and so I thought um I would see if you want to vote on whether you recommend or not recommend these articles or not um or actually I just had a couple of questions on some if we don't want to vote on all of them so I guess I could use your input do you guys want to vote on all of them I don't think it's necessary Madam chair yeah I don't either okay so um I do want to I do have questions on um so Jim gave us a marked up copy that has some comments on it in red um so I'm skipping to article 14 which is on page eight um so this one um is the is the water and sewer one um so the motion that was published was a sum of $7 million so that's going to be the motion on the floor is $7 million not 35 million um finance committee did not recommend this one and finance committee usually the one who U makes the mo he did so spcom does not recommend they changed it oh they changed it they just had this last week so okay so they did recommend the a revised amount okay so are they going to be making the motion then I saw an email today they were hoping the select board would make a motion on this one all right so my question you I whatever so yeah so the so my question was do you want the motion to come from the select board or the um all right so I'll make the motion on that one okay see wa passing like this and then um Article 15 um that was for the betterments and the fincom did not recommend that one do 15 or okay so um do you guys want is it okay if the select board makes that motion sure okay so I will make that motion and I think the only questions on article 16 to article 16 so article 16 already said SL I'm sorry yes okay and then I saw on social media people said that we only removed one article but we removed article one and we removed article 21 that's correct um but do we left the number it's for numbering that we left them in there so that didn't Reber everything were there any other um I did want to call attention there's there's at least one where there the motion's going to be to refer back to the planning board 30 article 34 and article 37 so 34 and 37 really these these these zoning ones are really tricky find find on the page where the motion is so um so 34 and 37 but it's the planning board that's going to make that motion right they'll make all these Zing okay so the plan here it is the bottom of page 23 I finally thought it um so the planning board's going to move to refer them back to the planning board all right um I did check um Jim uh said there had been some meetings with the town moderator and school department to talk about the the meeting so they are preparing can you just talk about they're preparing for overflow right yes I did not attend the meeting but they met last week Thursday I believe Thursday afternoon with the police fire um school department staff um steep fls um just to go over the um Logistics of the building uh make sure they had enough handicap spots in the area of the entrance um overflow into the cafeteria um and just make sure that the fire department was okay with any um occupancy or code issues and um as far as I know everything is under control um I spoke to Kristen she was there as well um she's brought in a couple additional registar to help with the signing in of people um they're trying to eliminate the number of people out of mingling outside the entrance there to the auditorium so when you come in you sign in and they're going to you're going to have to go right in and get your seat um and go from there but overall they're planning for a big group okay anything anything else about Tom meeting that anybody wants to talk about we are going we are posted for 6:30 but um I think are do do you guys have any action on the infrastructure meeting or you just uh we may discuss the uh asking finom to to give a vote on 15 or 16 just so we have an idea okay that was Mari Mario's C okay the only other one I think from the select board was uh 39 which was the Personnel bylaw changes okay um any on the copy that you have all of read is just my notes um those are not part of the printed warrant so yeah okay all right anything else on town meeting so um five was a discussion on several select board policies but I realized um that we did not include these some of the policies in the in the meeting materials and so I don't do not want to talk about the department communication policy because we did not distribute that and do not want to talk about the agenda and meeting policy because we did not distribute that either um but we did have the E speech storm interim policy actually was that in here I don't oh yeah it was it wasn't labeled five it just says East Beach cble policy verus suggestions so I would like to talk about that if that's okay with board okay so um so we're skipping over we're going to talk at a different meeting about the communication policy and the agenda policy so the East Beach storm interim policy draft um we got from Michael buris um where do the this is got his um so Jim can you just talk about this did the original one did who wrote the original so I did the original and Michael addit so you did the original and then the items in the part and purple is where he revised it right yeah I did accept those changes but for some reason when we uh when it came up into this file it came up with the edited versions no same East Beach Cobble policy bur suggestion all right so just um to kind of summarize the policy um here that is proposed um the um when the so we there's a there's a preamble but the when the storms o cause overwash of beach sand and Cobble on the East Road the highway department shall first secure the Integrity of the road to prevent further erosion then the highway department shall relocate the remaining Cobble deposited on the pavement to the southernly side of the RightWay is understood that work during and after storms can be hazardous Emergency Operations take precedence but is the intent of the policy to remove material from the roadway deposit material on the south side of the roadway in the general area from where it came lot owners will be responsible for spreading the material once it has been pushed to the southernly side of the road it is a lot owners responsibility to ensure that spread material is compliant with applicable regulations including but not limited from the West Park Conservation Commission and massachusett wetlands protection act the policy shall remain in effect until the Westport Select board adopts a beach management plan for East Beach or otherwise repeals this interim policy so I think the um recommendation from the climate resilience committee was um to not create a permanent um policy um but to wait for this overall be management plan so that is the proposed policy do we have any comments or discussion go ahead I I just wanted to say it's a draft at this point I just wanted to give it to the board so they could review it I haven't discussed it with the speech group um I did send it to Chris and to Chris Gonzalez the highway department in the planning office and did get comments back um but this is kind of the first shot okay so you're not asking for us to approve it you're asking if we have any additional comments or questions or that kind of thing go ahead to Jim here uh will KP law be looking at this I send it to them yeah yeah I mean it's probably really cut and dried but I don't know if there's some problem in there with some other statute or whatever it's out there okay any netive comments anything for me I know you just said if you're going to talk that you have to go to my can this I may as well speak my name is Kevin Kurt the East Beach Improvement Association president and um I appreciate the efforts at trying to get something done on paper so we can work together to get uh to a point where we can the word nourish comes up and armor comes up but at the end of the day we're got to try to make that area more resilient because it's not a matter if but it's a matter of when the next storm comes and how much damage is it going to do to the infrastructure right now we do have quite a few vulnerable areas which um you know I feel as though God forbid this is the year we get the hurricane you're going to lose a good chunk of that road a lot of the Cobble been redistributed out of the area off of that south side of the beach and it's um made it difficult people are able to use the Lots um they're hoping to be able to replenish what they can but I a lot of them are very apprehensive some of them are constricted by cost some of them have the money but don't know what's going to happen on the next storm I myself wouldn't want to spend $5,000 to bring in five truckloads of caral or whatever to try and at least make my lot a little more resilient and protect the road at the same time only to find out at the next storm I can't even get down there and it's being taken away rather than push back on the setback um I'd like to work with you to maybe get the uh input of those Southside lot owners who might say I know Mr Brewer said something about you know having KP law take a look at it and that's great you know we don't want to do anything that's out of the ordinary or anything that's going to cause a problem but at the end of the day I don't think those people would mind if you push the stuff 10 or 20 feet back and it went over onto their property a little bit not that the machine would go on the property but these in any effort we could do together to make that beach a little more resilient and to try and save that road because it's it's a asset to the entire Community entire town and um you know again the efforts are there let's see if we can continue to make it happen you know we um the select board did vote to get a little bit of the material back which was found by the town beach didn't amount to a whole lot so you know we got to make some sort of effort together to be able to do that so we don't lose that that that area completely and then we all be saying G what could we do next but thank you thank you all right anything else on that okay um so Jim you're going to you're going to talk to KY law on that and okay uh Town Administrator report a few these things we've already discussed the uh Mass D water uh Grant we discussed earlier tonight um hoping to get the completed contracts within the next couple of weeks from the state and the federal government so we can get that moving Route Six Water and Sewer we have two members of the committee here and we I think we've kind of updated uh they met with the finance committee last week and uh the finance reducing this overall scope of the project to just the first contract um which is from Fall River to um about in the area of me Works uh just west of Route 88 uh we had some very competitive bids on the contract we had seven large companies bid on the overall project we had three bids that were um fairly close um to two that were close to the lowest bidder um and they attracted bid so they came in probably about 20 25% under the original estimate so it's it could be a good opportunity for the town and they'll be voting on it at tomorrow night at town meeting the drift Road Bridge before you before you go on did you guys want to say anything um so how's CL Feld made out on looking at those bids good um they evaluated the bids um I think there was one math error in one of them that was corrected which is which happens um we go by the final number but one of the units was was off uh didn't make any difference um we met with the contractor today with Klein Felder uh Roger Fernandes myself um just to make sure that they are interested in doing the work we let them know that there's a meeting tomorrow night town meeting and if uh things go well well if things get approved at tomorrow night's meeting there would be a possibility of another um Town election in July the end of July um and they're aware of that and they're still very much interested um so yes which which contractor was that that was forever there was a low bit on contract one yeah but they went a little B on the overall project right so the overall project what was the amount that was estimated from Kleinfeld on the overall project so the overall I think was 32 million originally uh they came in roughly about 22 but you have contingencies in construction Administration so I think you're probably 26 maybe somewhere in that range um um how does the how does the the P grant money for the water main going down in contract to affect the bid on this it doesn't um if if that it's a good question but my own mind it doesn't so if we happen to go ahead with with that project and do the whole three phases um we would just deduct that portion or we would assign that P Grant to that portion so it would reduce that contract I maybe roughly a million dollars or million and half dollars so how are we going to do that if we take the low bidder that was the low bidder on contract one but not the low bidder on the overall job we're required to take the low called bidder aren't we qualifi B yeah yeah so the way this was bid was it was bid three separate ways it was bid contract one which is the first section of Route Six from FL River to about meat Works contract two was from meat works up to say bread and cheese Brook and contract three was from bread and cheese Brook to doth so the base bid is contract one so if we only do contract one then the low bidder for the base bid would get that if the town tomorrow night votes for 35 million and you want to do the whole project then it would go to the other contract because his overall bid for that portion was less so um all right anything else on that topic I everything okay and number three uh drift Road Bridge uh we're going to meet with uh Power engineer ing think Mr brew and myself um one or two of the property owners and Power Engineering uh will come in on May 10th to discuss concerns of the neighbors and um you know they do have some reasonable concerns as far as the appearance and Aesthetics of the bridge and uh we will see what we can do to get some changes then a big one we all talked about town meeting tomorrow night 7 o' at the new school and two other things that just came in um Ron Costa who served for on the board of citizens for Citizens is um yes he's not going to serve this year um goth Patterson from citizens for Citizens emailed today they're looking for um a nominee for that position um they usually meet anywhere from 9 to 12 times a year um he said it's not a lot of heavy lifting but it's it's an important position we would need somebody from Westport to fill it so if you know anybody that might be interested let me know we'll get on the next agenda chair is that a volunteer position or a paid position I'm pretty sure it's volunteer but I will check yeah that's the question I ask here think it's oh yeah so yeah and then the other one is um we're just working with the highway department um they're looking at some air quality issues and you it's been a wet season over there so they have some mold so they they're evaluating that right now and we may have to do some cleanup over there over the next month okay thank you Jim um next item we have is the minutes I'm going to take them separately because um Craig wasn't here for two of them I wasn't here for one of them so we're just going to do them one at a time um so how are we March 25th I was not here you're moving approval of the minutes just second so Craig is OB staining he wasn't all in favor I that's four and one exstension um the minutes of April 8 I'm abstaining Sor so we have Craig is abstaining and shaa is abstaining due to absence um all in favor I I that's three um oppos I mean three favor and then April 22 I move theor I was not here oh sorry you were not here on the second so you're obing for the 20 second and that's Craig Craig's approving CRA y okay I've already approved him I reviewed him and approved him okay oh right because you're the clerk sorry that's fine that's fine okay you reviewed them and they're okay yes all right good J thank you Paul for waking me up okay all in favor I I so that's uh four in favor one exension um the report on the bill warrant yes so that's my we not continue doing that yeah you know got skill set there now and uh good everything was fine it was fairly routine nothing out of the ordinary and everything was a total of about a million5 which was not very much relative to other bills so that's all it all right thank you um the next item is liaison committee reports and suggestions for future agenda discussion action so we start with Manny um I would just say that on on this upcoming sewer and water project that um in light of the bids that went out and the the monies that we now have available and are expected to have available coming in the next year um and also I I think you need to look would need to look we need to look very closely at how we award this contract I know you urement Officer Jim so I I just hope that you got a handle on that as we move forward after tomorrow's meeting and whatever happens I make sure we do the correct what we should be doing thank you um we touch Bas on that uh the ioc meeting sured um was the usual we touched Bas on some bike paths those ofr West for was mentioned um lifeguards Jim we're getting close yeah I actually spoke to uh Mr Le from the beach committee today you said they have a number of applications I think they have nine attorneys and um they have I want to I think he said another 16 applications or 16 total so right now they are in good shape as far as the number um all right the other thing was cable advisory um last time I Buck was say she was talking about maybe switching it up and adding another citizen can we find out on that as we get closer to the July 1 appointments just so we uh you know what's going on please I think that's it okay I didn't have any committee reports dick um I just had two things i' been asking before to just remind everybody that we were going to have the chair of the school building committee come in of course we have Craig and we have Manny here anyway uh to talk about where that's going um it's been off are you talking about the school building committee or the long-term building committee the long-term building yeah um so we should you know this is not urgent but we probably ought to do that one of these days a lot of people are asking about that that was an of asked question on the campaign Trail so I just H out as a reminder but okay I just have a question on that so we had that liaison that was looking into that we're supposed to have another meeting is that coming up soon or anything I've reached out to the chair I haven't heard back there a facilitator was that yes yes we had had we had one like extensive meeting and I just after that meeting I I mean I could have lost track with the emails I get but is it is the chair Christopher Thrasher yes yes okay okay the other thing I have Craig would be aware of this uh a number of residents at the head of Westport are concerned about traffic they had authored a letter that they wrote to Jim M Copy to me as select board chair at the time uh addressed to Christopher Dunn police chief um and they're asking if what else can be be done which more than what what has already been done and uh the police have been involved in this I don't think we have to take an action item as a select board but if if by consensus we could ask Jim just to follow up with um the chief and also perhaps be in touch with their representative a gentleman by the name of Mark fornier who lives there he happens to be a lawyer he's one of the members and he was asking for our help anything we can do they they know it's an uphill battle traffic is very heavy there a lot of speeders uh there's only so many things we can do but they have gone on record I know that the chief is working with them but if we could just follow through on that to show good faith I do I do recall I mean we did do a bunch in that area so we narrowed the roadway through striping and we put up the the speed indicators um and I know at one point we talked to I think it was the do folks or Traffic Engineers that came in and they were advising us against doing a speed study there because um it would probably raise the speed limit um because the speed limit is 25 now and at the time I don't know if this is still true but at the time if they would have done a study it likely would have raised the speed limit to 30 um so yeah I think it's probably worth seeing if there's anything else we could do but I'm not all that hopeful yeah just to show the effort and yeah there's nothing we can do we understand I think the uh residents there are realistic about this I know a lot of people ask for enforcement Jim's got plenty of time in the scenes I thought maybe work after time I can tell you the chief chief is well aware of it um they had the the bo up there that tells you what your your speed is or and they were having some trouble with the programming of it but they they got the software fixed up so it's supposed to be going back up but he is aware of it and I think he's he's looking to meet with them in the next couple of weeks yeah that came up at that meeting and and also his question is um where does the St school zone start and end and is it is it is there any flexibility in that so right now it starts at the existing signs which the school department is trying to replace and come up with new ones they they're pricing out they've been working with the highway department but that's where the existing school zone would startop right where the flashing signin isn't and then the other side whether or not that can be widened yes is something something we could look into well they're going to lose interest in but it's on the weekend still so people aren going to pay attention to it if they don't get it on schedule they are looking to update them um I know the superintendent's been on that for a few months and anything else S no that's it thank you okay uh I actually I'm still as a till tonight I was only on one committee but uh so welcome back yeah affordable housing trust um we uh well we H to will get the the amount of money that we had requested through the community preservation committee be we have that appr that budget approved at the uh board meeting uh which will gets to one of the objectives that we have which is to set aside money and then RFP um a um uh sent out a proposal request for proposals for people to submit if they have Parcels or they have control of parcels that might be useful for affordable housing the most recent project we did was a partnership with uh um our Habitat for Humanity on Sodom Road it put up two duplexes two duplexes up um ideally we'd be like to get something maybe not on a scale that we had a while back with noach fil something maybe on a smaller scale so we had but we need to know do an inventory of sites we need to know if people who have sites that might be uh suitable for affordable housing to um to have the opportunity to um submit proposal to that so that's that's sort of a medium-term priority shortterm I representing the trust I attended a um Regional U seminar at the wom Museum a week ago uh for regional strategies um had representatives from all of the surrounding communities as well as the city the Bedford attending so some discussion about how to do this in a in a regional way as well um so the next section is comments and statements from the public have an issue chance see none uh just a reminder that we have a number of vacancies on boards committees and commissions actually not as many as we used to have but also um appointments are coming up again the end of June so um you know if you're interested in volunteering if you're interested in serving on a committee reach out we might be able to find you um the right kind of place um top I don't have any topics unanticipated 48 hours in advance do you know of any Jim I have none all right so we don't have any topics our next our next meeting is um scheduled for tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the new high school with the town meeting at 700 p.m. um our next regular meeting will be May 20th um we are going to go into executive session we will only come into open session for the purposes of adjourn um so uh no business after that so um pursuant to the provisions of Mass General Law chapter 38 section 21A the chair declares an open meeting will have a detrimental effect to a to hear a complaint brought against a public official B discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the Westport permanent firefighters Association local 1802 C discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining the highway department ask me Council 93 local 1701 D discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with Westport Police Association e approved minutes of March 25 2024 and of April 22 2024 so Mo Ste second Richard Brewer roll call Vote many so as I I Ste hi Shanel hi Richard Brewer hi Craig Dutra all right so we are in executive session